For my last Top 10 List of 2009, here are my own Top 10 personal favorite posts from this year:

1) Really Catholic and Uber Catholic. One of my most popular and commented posts, it was also my favorite.

2) Truth. The image of an unborn child came to me as soon as I heard this quote from President Obama.

3) Scott Hahn becomes Muslim! My April Fools entry allowed me to gently tweak a man I greatly admire.

4) My name is Eric and I am a Catholic Geek. This was a great opportunity to combine my interests in all things Catholic with my technological background.

5) We need a pope. I was very fortunate to meet Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America this year, and was somewhat stunned by his words to me.

6) Author of Hebrews: theology school dropout. One of my great interests is Biblical studies and I often lament their sad state in much of academia. I put their false presuppositions on display in this post.

7) How to evangelize your family this Thanksgiving. Another driving passion of mine is evangelization. In this post I try to give practical advice for evangelization within the family.

8) Dei Verbum and the Sources of Revelation. In honor of the anniversary of Dei Verbum’s promulgation, I discussed one of the key points of that Vatican II document.

9) At least Captain Picard will understand the Bible. My technology background has led me to contemplate some of the consequences of new technologies and how they impact our spiritual lives. Here is one example.

10) Divorce of Scripture and Theology. Another post on the state of Biblical Studies in our times.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog this year and I hope to have many more posts in 2010. Happy New Year!

In journalism, the motto is “If it bleeds, it leads”. The more disastrous a story, the more likely it is to get a lot of play in the media. I have tried to offset that tendency at my blog by highlighting little-known stories of grace which show that God is working in this world. I think in heaven the stories that get the most “press” are stories like the ones below.

The Top 10 stories from my blog in 2009:

1) If you kill me, I’ll go to heaven and you’ll go to hell. One of my most popular posts, the embedded video tells the story of an elderly woman who stopped an attacker in his tracks with the Gospel.

2) Joyful Sisters. The story of a woman who found her vocation through the witness of joyful sisters.

3) How could you have brought us to this insane place? The story of what happens when a Baptist minister visits an Orthodox Divine Liturgy.

4) You know Catholics. A woman does her part to fulfill the command of Genesis 1:28.

5) Born again at 90. A man reads the Bible in his old age and becomes Catholic.

6) My mom dragged me into Church and I ended up a priest. The story of an Evangelical who goes to a Catholic church unwillingly and ends up a priest.

7) Vocations crisis! A post about the “problem” the Nashville Dominicans are facing.

8) Came to Church for the girls, ended up a priest. The vocations story of Msgr. Charles Pope, who initially came to church for less-than-ideal reasons.

9) I did not understand how people could pray to a weak and dying God. The power of the Gospel takes hold of a Sikh.

10) Sisters come home. An order of Episcopal religious sisters decide to swim the Tiber.

We can get caught up in the negative news which the mainstream media makes part of our daily diet, but we must always remember that God is active in this world: we just need to open our eyes to see it!

Yesterday I posted my Top 10 Most Popular Posts by traffic. Today I will post the Top 10 Most Commented Posts:

1) To be deep in history is to cease to be angry. What was highly ironic about the ensuing discussion of this post was how angry many people got.

2) In defense of the Novus Ordo. Anyone familiar with the Catholic Blogosphere should understand why a blog post with this title would get a good number of comments.

3) Coming out of the closet. After liturgy issues, Harry Potter is a surefire way to generate a lot of comments.

4) Really Catholic and Uber Catholic. I had a number of great additions to my list in the comments.

5) Fact: demanding, liturgical churches attract youth. Rule #1 of Catholic blogs: discussion of liturgy=comments.

6) Truth. Another good way to generate comments: mention President Obama and abortion.

7) Rules of Engagement for Catholics on the Internet. Fortunately, no one seemed to break the rules in the comments for this post.

8) “Filioque” means “division”. This post generated my favorite discussion of the year, as a number of people were able to contribute valuable insights into this age-old point of division.

9) Why I love being Catholic. Usually “negative” posts generate the most comments, but I was pleased to see the response to this “positive” post of mine.

10) Scott Hahn becomes Muslim! My April Fools contribution generated a few comments, unfortunately including some who took it as an opportunity to criticize Dr. Hahn.

Every blogger loves comments, so in 2010 feel free to leave your own!

This week I plan on posting some “Top 10″ lists related to my blog. I will start with a list of the Top 10 Most Popular Posts (by traffic) from 2009:

1) How many silent monks does it take to sing Handel’s Messiah? A popular YouTube video showing a high-school production of monks “singing” Handel’s Messiah with cue cards. This link must have gotten embedded in a wide-spreading email, because about a week after it was posted it started receiving hundreds of visitors per day from out of the blue.

2) Really Catholic and Uber Catholic. My tongue-in-cheek take on what makes someone “really” Catholic or “über” Catholic.

3) If you kill me, I’ll go to heaven and you’ll go to hell. A cute video about an elderly woman who brought her attacker to tears by preaching the Gospel to him.

4) Tiger Woods and Pornography. A look at the connection between Tiger’s failings and the everyday temptations we all face.

5) What would Catholic-Orthodox reunion look like? A look at two proposals which have been made regarding Catholic-Orthodox reunion.

6) Rules of Engagement for Catholics on the Internet. A list of rules I try to follow when engaged with others on the Internet.

7) Coming out of the closet. In which I divulge a deep, dark secret: I am a Harry Potter fan.

8) How could you have brought us to this insane place? The story of “Real Live Preacher” – a Baptist minister who decided to attend an Eastern Orthodox liturgy and was blown away.

9) When Mass makes you angry. A discussion of why the Liturgy is so important and what to do when its implementation makes you angry.

10) To be deep in history is to cease to be angry. In which I discuss how the more you know history, the more peaceful you become about current problems in the Church.

When the angels went away from them to heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem
to see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
- Luke 2:15-20

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
- John 1:1-5, 9-14

The Pope has died. No, not that pope. The pope who died was Pope Pius XIII, who is more correctly an “anti-Pope”, which means he claims to be pope, but really isn’t. (Interestingly, the first known anti-pope ended up being a canonized saint).

You can read the whole sad story of Father Lucian Pulvermacher, OFM Cap. at his website which is tellingly called “True Catholic” . Fr. Pulvermacher was a missionary priest who ministered in Japan and Australia. In the 1970’s, however, he left his order due to his disillusionment with the reforms which came out of Vatican II. He tried to attach himself to other traditionalist groups, such as the Society of St. Pius X, but ultimately he determined that almost no one in the world was really a “true Catholic” like he was. Thus, he ended up making himself Pope of his own Catholic church.

As much as we might want to see Fr. Pulvermacher as some crank, we need to be careful not to fall into his schismatic tendencies in our own lives. Are we faithful to the Church today, or to a Church as we pictured it 50 years ago or to a Church as we picture it 50 years from now? God will not judge us on the reforms made (or not made) by the hierarchy, He will judge us on our faithfulness to the teachings of our legitimate leaders – the Pope and the bishops in union with him. How faithful have we been?

Be sure to say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Fr. Pulvermacher. May God have mercy on his soul.

Today you will know the Lord is coming, and in the morning you will see his glory.

- Invitatory Antiphon for December 24th.

Over the past dozen years I have logged countless hours on the Internet. I have written Internet software, been involved in numerous online forums and blogs and now get almost all my news from the web. During that time I have developed a love/hate relationship with the Technology That Al Gore Invented (I am such a geek I already knew how it was really invented when he made that claim). In many ways, I consider myself a “technological Luddite”. Anyway, here are five things I love about the Internet, followed by five things I hate about it.

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE INTERNET

1) Its egalitarian nature.
I love the fact that a guy with a lame website like drudgereport.com can become one of the most influential media outlets in the world. The barrier to entry is now so low that literally anyone can start a website, and if they have something valuable to say, it will eventually get heard. This has many implications for evangelization.

2) The accountability it fosters in public life.
I love that public figures are held so accountable. When Dan Rather tried to make up stories about President Bush, he was called on it and the scandal reached the public almost immediately. (Obviously, this can get out of hand – do I really need to know how exactly many women Tiger Woods had an affair with?)

3) Its communications power.
The Internet was originally created to allow for communications between government organizations in the event of a war, and communications is still what the Internet does best. We no longer have to depend on Tom, Dan or Peter to tell us what the Pope said – we can just find out ourselves at the Vatican website.

4) Its power to unify.
This year we saw the power of the Internet in the Iranian elections. People who were oppressed by the government were able to let their voices be heard, and the whole world listened. I can’t imagine something like that happening before the advent of the Internet.

5) Its research capabilities.
I honestly don’t know how people used to research before the Internet was created. I don’t know how I did any research during my high school and college days in the late 80’s/early 90’s without Google. Every topic imaginable is available on the Internet, and the vast majority of it is free. Yes, you have to be careful about your sources, but in general, it is not too hard to find solid reliable information regarding just about anything in just a few minutes.

THINGS I HATE ABOUT THE INTERNET

1) Porn.
It is unbelievably ubiquitous. I did a Google image search recently for an ancient icon and one of the first images shown was a picture of a topless actress (I won’t explain the dubious connection between them). I have safe search on, but it must have gotten through the filter. The damage this easy access to porn does on our society in incalculable, and because of the Internet I started praying for the purity of my son on the day he was born.

2) Its addictive nature.
The interactivity of the Internet makes it much more addictive than TV. I have to work just to not be addictive to checking my email and other sites I frequently visit. Would Blackberries be called “Crackberries” if they didn’t have access to the Internet? This is why I take one day off a week from accessing the Internet.

3) Its deceptively impersonal nature.
There is no question that the Internet allows more ‘human’ contact than previous technologies such as the radio and TV. However, it is still impersonal. Right now I am sitting alone in my office staring at a computer screen. No matter how many people read this post, this is still an impersonal act. It can foster a false sense of community. I think the Internet is a powerful tool for evangelization (which is one of the most important personal acts we engage in), but it is foolish to think it is superior to old-fashioned offline friendships and communications. The Internet should be a tool which leads to real relationships, not a replacement of those relationships.

4) Its power to divide.
Yes, I realize this is the opposite of #4 under “Things I Love”, but that is the paradox of the Internet, isn’t it? Because of the Internet, one can live completely isolated from contrary views. And when this happens, we have a tendency to demonize those who disagree with us, instead of attempting to understand their presuppositions and worldview.

5) The death of the long form.
I realize that the Internet isn’t the origin of this (I would blame the television for that), but it surely accelerated its death. The very technology of the Internet works against the idea of long, in-depth writing. And it seems to get worse with each passing year: from web sites to blogs to twitter, it seems that no one can read anything of any length anymore. When I first started this blog, I read that you should keep your posts under 400 words or no one would read them. 400 words! Ents can’t even introduce themselves in under 400 words! (Imagine that for a minute: an Ent with a blog or, even better, a Twitter account). In fact, there is probably no one reading this sentence because it is well past the 400-word mark in this post. There is a time and place for short articles, but it seems like the Internet has eliminated lengthy works from our literary diet.

I’m sure I could think of more, but I’ll leave it to five each. Feel free to add your own likes/dislikes about the Internet in the comments.

I just found out that Jennifer Jones, who played Bernadette (and won an Oscar) in the classic movie “Song of Bernadette” died this month at the age of 90.

If you have never seen “Song of Bernadette” , you really must find time to do so; it is a wonderful film which beautifully captures the events surrounding the apparition of Mary in Lourdes, France in the 19th century. I especially love its portrayal of the local parish priest: he is a no-nonsense cleric who initially (and prudently) assumes Bernadette is making the story up, but after he accepts the apparition as valid, fiercely protects her from those who wished to destroy her.

As the opening credits of “Song of Bernadette” state,

To those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary.
To those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible.

Say a prayer today for the repose of the soul of Jennifer Jones. I’m sure that St. Bernadette has been praying for her for a long time.

One of the most popular movies in the 1980’s was “Rain Man” in which Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic man who had amazing mental abilities. The man Hoffman’s character was based on, Kim Peek, recently died at the age of 58.

Although mentally disabled in some ways, Peek’s mind could do things that were simply unbelievable. For example, you could name a date, any date, and he could tell you the day of the week it fell on and what happened that day in history

Peek and others like him remind us of two things:

1) We only have a very limited understanding of how the human brain works.

2) All of God’s creatures, no matter their disabilities, are amazing works of the Lord that should always inspire a sense of awe and wonder.

As our culture works to eradicate the non-perfect from our world, we should remember the joy and wonder that people like Peek bring to it.

Here are some videos about the real-life “Rain Man”:

Pray for Peek and Peek’s father, who cared for him throughout his life.

One of the most important aspects of Christianity is the Incarnation: we believe God became man, not in some mythological primordial time, but in a specific time and in a specific place. God didn’t just become man, he became Jesus of Nazareth, a 1st century Jew living in Roman Palestine. The reality of the Incarnation makes the following discovery especially profound:

First Jesus-era house discovered in Nazareth

Just in time for Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what may have been the home of one of Jesus’ childhood neighbors. The humble dwelling is the first dating to the era of Jesus to be discovered in Nazareth, then a hamlet of around 50 impoverished Jewish families where Jesus spent his boyhood.

Archaeologists and present-day residents of Nazareth imagined Jesus as a youngster, playing with other children in the isolated village, not far from the spot where the Archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would give birth to the boy…

Based on clay and chalk shards found at the site, the dwelling appeared to house a “simple Jewish family,” Alexandre added, as workers carefully chipped away at mud with small pickaxes to reveal stone walls.

“This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,” Alexandre said. A young Jesus may have played around the house with his cousins and friends. “It’s a logical suggestion.”

The discovery so close to Christmas pleased local Christians.

“They say if the people do not speak, the stones will speak,” said the Rev. Jack Karam of the nearby basilica.

As we celebrate Christmas this week, let us remember the reason God emptied himself to become man in such a small, humble town: so that we might one day be glorified with him in heaven.

A common lament in many churches today is the lack of young people. It seems that many youth today can’t leave faith of their parents fast enough once they are on their own. This is true in Catholic churches and it is especially true in evangelical churches, at least according to this interesting article in the Broken Arrow Ledger entitled “Where have the Young People Gone?” Some excerpts (emphasis added):

“Nationwide polls and denominational reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the traditional church. And it’s not just happening on the nominal fringe; it’s happening at the core of the faith.”

That’s the opening paragraph in a press release promoting a new book, “Already Gone,” by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, with Todd Hillard…

Two-thirds of young adults who have grown up in evangelical churches are leaving, according to Ham and Beemer.

Nancy Mabry, youth director at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, agrees that evangelical churches are losing twenty-somethings, but she credits a reluctance to make any sort of commitment as the underlying cause.

If young people can’t commit to a skating party on Sunday evening until Sunday morning, they’re going to have difficulty making long-term commitments to anything else, Mabry said.

When she was in her 20s, she said “If you didn’t have a fever, you went to church. Some people say they don’t come to church because Sunday is the only day they have to spend with family. Why don’t they spend it with their family in church? Now, church is an option,” Mabry said.

What is the solution? There is a hint of it found later in the article:

There is an exception, however, according to Mabry. Traditional churches that are liturgical churches and smaller evangelical churches seem to be retaining their twenty-something members in greater numbers than larger and mega-churches.

The Rev. John Wilke, senior pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, has read the book and said he found it to be a fascinating study.

He cited one of Luther’s writings as something for church leaders to consider: “A faith that costs nothing and demands nothing is worth nothing.”

“I think that is where the church is today. I get too many things in the mail from churches that say, ‘Come just the way you are, you don’t have to change,’” Wilke said.

“While God loves you where you are, he expects you to change. We don’t put the fear of God in our churches, we don’t have that respect. We’ve made Jesus our homeboy. He’s not our homeboy, he’s our Saviour.”

Wilke said the only church he knows of that is experiencing growth in the 20-to-29-year old age group is the Greek Orthodox Church.

“The Greek Orthodox Church is a liturgical church. Kids want to return to something different from what they get from the world. If we want to reach these kids again, we are going to have to return to what the early church was doing. We need to raise the bar,” he said.

Read that last part again: a demanding, liturgical Church is actually attracting youth!

Over the past forty years, the goal of many Catholic parishes has been to make it as easy as possible to be a Catholic so that everyone, but especially the youth, would be willing to come. There has been very little preaching about sin and repentance or about the demands the Faith puts upon you. Furthermore, the underlying assumption for many has been to make the celebration of the Mass more “relevant” to the younger generations, so that they will be more attracted to coming. However, this study shows the exact opposite has occurred: kids have rejected the easy way and instead favor churches that are more demanding and more traditionally liturgical.

Youth want to be inspired; they want to be called to something above themselves. A demanding, liturgical church naturally does this and as a result attracts youth without even explicitly trying.

Orthodox Church in America Archbishop Job of Chicago and the Midwest has passed away. Pray for the repose of his soul.

It should not be surprising that Pope Benedict appreciates the value of the Christmas Tree, which originated in the land of his birth, Germany. He even sees an evangelistic value to this venerable tradition:

The Christmas tree — with its journey from a dark forest to the brilliance of decorative lights — represents every Christian, called to share the message that the Light of the world has become man.

This was a comparison made by Benedict XVI today when he addressed a delegation from Belgium, which provided the Christmas tree for St. Peter’s Square this year.

“In the forest,” the Holy Father said, “the trees are close together and each one of them contributes to making the forest a shadowy, sometimes dark, place.”

“But here,” he continued, “chosen from among this multitude, the majestic tree that you offered us is today lit up and covered with brilliant decorations that are like so many marvelous fruits.”

“Leaving aside its dark garments for a brilliant explosion, it has been transfigured, becoming a beacon of light that is not its own, but rather gives testimony to the true Light that comes to this world,” the Pope suggested.

Our own family Christmas Tree always has a lot of red apple ornaments on it. This particular ornament also has Germanic origins: during the Christmas season, many German towns would hold a play which would tell the story of Christmas and start “In the Beginning”, with the Fall of Adam. A tree would be centrally located on the stage, and of course it would have apples on it, which Adam and Eve would unwisely eat every time. Over time people began to have trees in their own homes and it would inevitably include some tempting-looking apples.

Thus, the Christmas Tree points us both to the Tree that led to Death as well as the Tree that leads to Life.

To say it snowed here this weekend would be like saying New Orleans got a little rain during Katrina.

Here are our unofficial counts from Saturday:

• 10am: 7 inches
• 2pm: 12.5 inches
• 5pm: 17 inches
• 9pm: 20 inches

This is the biggest snow for us since the Blizzard of 1996, when we got over 30 inches.

Of course, my homeschooled kids still have school today, but I’m sure they’ll find plenty to do during their breaks: